Warner ton propels Aussies despite Amir’s 5-wicket haul

TAUNTON, England: Win the toss, exploit the seemingly lively wicket and overcast conditions. Bowl Australia out for under 200. Win the match and head to Manchester for the big World Cup game against India with momentum on your side. That was the plan for Sarfraz Ahmed’s Pakistan.

He did win the toss but that was it despite a career-best performance by return-to-form Mohammad Amir. The left-armer took 5-30 and was the reason why Australia were unable to finish with a flourish despite a great start.

Comeback star David Warner finally hit true form as he scored a ton while fellow opener Aaron Finch made 82 to enable Australia post a commanding 307 in freezing conditions here at the County Ground. With 277-4 in 42 overs, the Australians seemed well set for 350 plus. But brilliant bowling in the death overs saw the Aussies losing their last six wickets within a span of 42 balls. They could just add 30 to the total.

Things weren’t like that for Pakistan at the start of the innings. Despite an impressive first spell from Amir it became quite clear quite early that almost everybody had misread the wicket. It was lively only when it came to looks as it lacked the sort of nip almost everybody expected it had.

Sarfraz Ahmed had no hesitation in bowling first and initially it seemed that Pakistan would soon to be on top as Amir bowled a fiery first over. He continued doing that but young Shaheen Shah Afridi, who replaced leggie Shadab Khan, leaded runs at the other end. Misreading the wicket wasn’t Pakistan’s only fault. They dropped catches at crucial junctures allowing Australia to take control of the proceedings.

The most costly drop was that of Australian captain Aaron Finch. He came into this game after a prolific showing in the ODI series against Pakistan in the UAE where he amassed 451 runs in five matches at an average of 112.75. He was one of the main dangermen and Pakistan knew they had to get him early. Wahab Riaz thought he had got him but Asif Ali dropped a sitter in the slips.

Australia

A. Finch c Hafeez b Amir 82

D. Warner c Imam b Shaheen 107

S. Smith c Asif b Hafeez 10

G. Maxwell b Shaheen 20

S. Marsh c Malik b Amir 23

U. Khawaja c Riaz b Amir 18

A. Carey lbw Amir 20

N. Coulter-Nile c Sarfraz b Riaz 2

P. Cummins c Sarfraz b Hasan 2

M. Starc c Malik b Amir 3

K. Richardson not out 1

Extras: (lb10, nb3, w6) 19

Total: (all out, 49 overs) 307

Fall: 1-146 (Finch), 2-189 (Smith), 3-223 (Maxwell), 4-242 (Warner), 5-277 (Khawaja), 6-288 (Marsh), 7-299 (Coulter-Nile), 8-302 (Cummins), 9-304 (Carey), 10-307 (Starc)

Bowling: Amir 10-2-30-5 (1w), Shaheen 10-0-70-2 (1nb, 1w), Hasan 10-0-67-1 (1nb, 3w), Riaz 8-0-44-1 (1w), Hafeez 7-0-60-1, Malik 4-0-26-0 (1nb)

Toss: Pakistan

Umpires: Nigel Llong (ENG), Ruchira Palliyaguruge (SRI)

TV umpire: Ian Gould (ENG)

Match referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM).